Filed under: Microsoft

As the video above explains, moving around panoramic views of a street is great if you can go "bubble to bubble" of a panorama, looking for what you want. That is, a panorama with up and down info is much like a bubble. But if you want to "slide" down the street, you want a more linear view of that street, and what's in the sky or on the ground really isn't that important.

Microsoft Research is really onto something here, allowing you to zoom out of a street view and enter a linear representation of that street, complete with signage for businesses and street names, etc. As with all competition (in this case obviously Microsoft is going after Google Street View), the battle for online supremacy is going to be awesome for the consumer. I can't wait for this to be available! For now it's just a presentation at SIGGRAPH.

[via Switched]

There's only four weeks to go until the next IE9 developer preview, and it looks like Chinese leak site Cnbeta might have got its hands on the new build already.

I'm not quite sure what to make of the screenshots, nor the Google translation. The Developer Previews (Internet Explorer Test Drive) are not meant to have a user interface -- they're just there to show off the Trident rendering engine. That means we're probably looking at the beta version of IE9 in these screenshots. Does that mean the private beta has begun -- or are these simply fakes?

As you can see above, IE9 seems to gained a proper download manager. After the break there's a couple more images -- one of the very Chromeish 'new tab page', and one that hints at restartless add-on management.

Looking at the SunSpider performance graph, I'm not sure if these images are real -- or whether this beta build sports the latest version of the Trident rendering engine. When I tested IE's JavaScript performance last month, it was about the same speed as Firefox 3.6 -- not some 10 times slower than Chrome.

[via Neowin]

Yes, this news is obviously a little bit of chest-pounding from the boys in Redmond, but there's no denying the stat is impressive. Internet Explorer 8's SmartScreen filter has blocked more than 1 billion malicious downloads.

SmartScreen is one of the many way IE8 is a big upgrade from previous versions of Microsoft's browser, and clearly a feature which is helping combat the rising tide of malware on the Web. While this is great news, it's a little bittersweet for me as a technician.

Judging by what I see on my service bench, IE8 users have clearly managed to persevere in the face of adversity. Their systems are typically more malware-laden than users who know about and use an alternative web browser.

Sigh.

[via The Windows Blog]

Microsoft just reported its quarterly earnings, and things are looking pretty good. The official Windows Blog reports that Windows 7 has hit 175 million licenses sold, which adds up to more than 7 copies EVERY SECOND since release.

Wow! Looking at the overall picture, that means 16% of the world's personal computers are now running Windows 7 (and maybe more, if you account for illegal copies).

Microsoft is also excited that businesses -- the one market where Windows still thoroughly blows Apple away -- are buying new computers (and thus new Windows licenses) at a faster rate than ever. MS posted double-digit growth in business license sales this quarter.

I don't want to bring IE6 into this, but all these Windows 7 sales in the corporate world must mean an upgrade to the IE8 that comes with Windows 7, right? I sure hope so!

It's somewhat hard to believe, but Windows 7 turned one year old today. July 22nd of 2009 saw the initial release of the Windows 7 RTM, with torrent sites beating Microsoft to the punch (but hey, that's become sort of a running gag at this point).

Windows 7 has been a huge win for Microsoft so far, pushing customer satisfaction levels to a new high and helping to accelerate the move to 64-bit computing. Next up: service pack 1, which is set to arrive some time in early 2011 -- though it's primarily a rollup of preiouvs hotfixes.

But that's a good thing, right? If customers are so satisfied that probably means no big changes are necessary. Not yet, anyhow. Maybe by the time Windows 7 gets as long in the tooth as Windows XP.

Today saw the release of the first in-depth previews of Microsoft's next-generation mobile operating system Windows Phone 7. The problem is, I don't really care about the screen, or indeed any of the hardware. I'm not interested in half the things that Engadget or ZDNet have to say about the phone: I'm just interested in what the software -- the operating system -- enables the phone to do. I figured you might be the same -- after all, who wants to dig through a dozen pages of pictures and flavourless prose when everything you want to know can be boiled down to a bunch of bullet points?

So, here's what Windows Phone 7 means for you, the software-enthusiast end-user:

• Using Windows Phone 7 will be very smooth -- there is a lot less emphasis on applications. You won't 'start the camera app' and then 'start the messaging app' to send a photo. You will just take a photo and then send it to a friend. As ZDNet puts it, the emphasis will be on how you interact with people rather than apps -- which is rather fitting, given our contemporary love affair with social interaction.
• The Start screen is still alive -- but unlike other mobile platforms where your home screen is merely dotted with app icons, you can create quick access buttons to almost anything, including your favourite songs or contacts. Being able to open an instant messenger chat with your best friend from the Start screen is pretty darn cool.
• Applications are going to be wider -- on WP7 you will find words trailing off the edge of the screen. Apparently it's a very natural cue that encourages you to swipe left or right to access the next page. I suggest you watch Engadget's video to see how this actually works in practice. Personally, I love the change: moving from a wide-screen desktop display to a hyper-portrait mobile phone is never pleasant.
• Much more stringent hardware requirements -- no surprise here, I guess. Windows Phone 7 has a (very sexy) list of minimum hardware requirements, including a multi-touch 800x480 screen and a flash-equipped camera. (Check the ZDNet article for a full list.)
• There will be no external storage on WP7 phones -- OK, this one's a surprise! I guess this is to please app developers and content providers... but time will tell! (Incidentally, WP7 phones must have a minimum of 8GB internal storage.)
• Hubs -- this is Windows Phone 7's shining glory. There are different kinds of hubs: People, Pictures, Games, Music + Videos, Marketplace and Office. Without going into exact details, these hubs provide easy access to every kind of media. In the case of Pictures, it shows your local camera photos, and your photos from Facebook. Games will contain all of the juicy Xbox Arcade/XNA games that also work on the WP7. For more details on how the hubs work, watch ZDNet's video.
• Configuration, settings -- like Android, Windows Phone 7 has a consolidated, global 'settings' menu where you can alter any setting for any application. Hooray!

I think that about covers it all. Overall, reviewers and developers are concluding that Windows Phone 7 is polished, fluid and very easy to use. In fact, most complaints seem to be about the lack of copy-and-paste and true multi-tasking. Sure, Microsoft isn't quite finished, but with WP7 phones due to arrive this winter, the platform must be very nearly feature-complete. I think it's safe to say that Windows Phone 7 will not debut with either a clipboard or multi-tasking.

Never mind! The iPhone still did very well without either of those features.

When Microsoft killed the Kin, its cheap social-networking-focused phone, it was written up as a total failure. Not everything about the Kin concept was faulty, though. Maybe I'm reading too much into half a sentence of speculation from our pals at Engadget, but it sounds like the website that handled syncing for the Kin, Kin Studio, might be the inspiration behind a similar site for Windows Phone 7.

Windows Phone Live, detailed yesterday at Microsoft's Partner Conference, offers media syncing and remote wipe features for Windows Phone 7, and it sounds pretty damn useful. You can move your photos, OneNote notes and contacts, as well as remotely control features of your phone in case it gets lost or stolen. Engadget says you can wipe, lock or locate your phone with Windows Phone Live or (this is my favorite option) just make it ring incessantly until the thief abandons it.

Anyway, since Windows Phone 7 doesn't launch until later this year, I have no way of knowing how much (if at all) Windows Phone Live is like Kin Studio. The concept of a fully-featured, Web-based way to interact with your phone is a good one, though, and it deserves to outlive the Kin (however poorly-thought-out) that device might be.

Okay, Microsoft folks: feel free to jump in and leave comments telling me these two things are completely unrelated. I'd love some more details!

We already told you that Windows 7 Service Pack 1 had hit closed beta, but now Microsoft has made it available to everyone. Announced on Monday at Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference, SP1 reflects Microsoft's increased focus on cloud computing.

As we've mentioned before, SP1 includes RemoteFX, which allows for host-based rendering of 3D graphics. That means when you remotely connect to another computer, you get the same multimedia experience (including Silverlight video, Aero effects, and 3D applications) as you would on your local desktop.

The bulk of SP1 is comprised of up-to-date hotfixes, and will probably include support for USB 3.0 and improvements to Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connection quality. You can download the Service Pack (as well as Windows Server 2008 R2) from Microsoft's Tech Evaluation Center.

Developers, you can now grab a shiny, new, 'near final version' of the Windows Phone Developer Tools!

Since its announcement in February, Microsoft has obviously been ploughing a lot of resources into its next-generation mobile operating system. With consumers (and developers!) are jumping from the ailing Windows Mobile platform in record numbers, Windows Phone 7 can't come soon enough. Microsoft, to put it frankly, needs an absolute miracle or the finest mobile operating system ever to turn around its mobile phone operations.

Will Windows Phone 7 be enough? I think it will stem the tide, but whether it will be enough to gain on Apple, RIM and Nokia, I don't know. The feature list certainly is impressive. If I was a developer, I'd be torn between the extant tried-and-tested smartphone platforms, and the juicy development tools available for Windows Phone 7. Nothing comes close to Expression Blend or Silverlight when it comes to quick, feature-rich-and-beautiful application development.

You can learn more about the Developer Tools beta release on the Windows Phone blog. Also, if you're a developer -- or interested in becoming a developer! -- Microsoft is offering four free live sessions on Windows Phone 7, Silverlight and XNA. The first is on July 20th -- go sign up!

Update: istartedsomething has a cool video walkthrough of the new Windows Phone 7 emulator; it's worth a watch!

Ahh, I just love Windows XP. Don't you? That default theme never fails to irritate me. It's a UI so tacky that it pushed me to spend countless hours in figuring out how to customize it or get rid of it altogether (go LiteStep!).

Other Windows XP users are not as fortunate; these are mainly people sitting in gray, depressing cubicles, with restrictive IT departments and massive corporate-wide Windows installations. Up until today, these cubicled masses had some hope for a friendlier computing environment. After all, XP wasn't going to be supported forever, right?

Wrong. Today Microsoft announced Windows 7 users will be able to downgrade to XP at any point during Windows 7's life cycle. For Windows 7 Ultimate, that means up until 2020. In Microsoft's words:

Going forward, businesses can continue to purchase new PCs and utilize end user downgrade rights to Windows XP or Windows Vista until they are ready to use Windows 7. Enabling such rights throughout the Windows 7 lifecycle will make it easier for customers as they plan deployments to Windows 7.

What this effectively means is that IT departments who have an established enterprise-wide Windows XP installation base now don't have to upgrade. If (when) they buy new computers, they can just take their shiny new hardware and trick it out with crappy, outmoded Windows XP. Their users must be so happy!

UPDATE: Microsoft has updated the original post to make things a bit clearer. It turns out the original information wasn't fully spot-on. Below are the exact details on what the extension means:

The sales lifecycle of Windows 7 will end two years after the release of the next version of Windows (which we don't yet know a ship date for). Downgrade rights only apply to how long Windows 7 will sell on OEM PCs – this is where the EULA comes into play, as mentioned above.

The support lifecycle of Windows 7 will be officially supported until 2019 – 10 years from its ship date. In simpler terms, as long as Windows 7 is sold via OEMs you can downgrade to XP. Once it stops selling, I assume the downgrade rights would be to Windows 7 itself (as we'll have the new version of Windows out).

[Via: ComputerWorld]

While there's much ado about Flash support (or lack thereof) on the iPhone and Android, Silverlight hasn't exactly been at the forefront of mobile software discussions in a while. Don't sell Microsoft short, though: Silverlight for Symbian has arrived, and it's the first version of SIlverlight on any mobile platform. The Microsoft rich media player -- not as ubiquitous as Flash, but still useful -- works with several Nokia handsets.

Weirdly enough, Microsoft's own Windows Phone 7, which launches later this year, isn't rumored to support Silverlight in the browser right off the bat. Silverlight is the development platform for Windows Phone 7 apps, though, and a browser plug-in is being considered for later generations of Windows Phone 7 devices. Tools for building mobile-optimized Silverlight apps on Symbian have also been released, so it shouldn't be long before we see something interesting pop up in-browser on that OS.

[via Mobiputing]

Straight out of the "you can never have enough SKUs" files, Microsoft appears to be prepping a new flavor of Office 2010 for release next month.

Dubbed Office Small Business Basics 2010, the package will include Word, Excel, OneNote, and Outlook. Make that probably includes, because there's not a whole lot of information about SBB on the Web apart from recent speculation that it's about to be released. There's a one-line nod to it on this Microsoft page, where you'll see it crammed in amongst all the other Office 2010 bits.

In fairness to Microsoft, the additional SKU actually does make sense. With so many different purchase options available for Office 2010 -- like those looks-like-a-prepaid-phone-card-but-isn't activation cards -- why not offer as many different combinations of the core Office apps as they think consumers may want? It's also pretty clear that the goal with Office 2010 is to get everyone using it -- whether they pay for it or not (Starter, Office Web... ).

In all honesty, the inclusion of PowerPoint in the small business versions was kind of a mystery to me -- though maybe that's because most of the customers I support during the day have a hard enough time staying on top of Word and Excel, let alone mastering a presentation app.

[via ZDNet]

Based on a very interesting job posting at Microsoft, Neowin is speculating that Office 2010 might become part of the mobile experience for more than just WIndows Phone users. The job (which has since been filled) called for a developer to help "bring Office Mobile to hundreds of millions of Nokia smartphone owners, followed by other leading smartphone platforms."

Wait, other smartphone platforms? We knew Microsoft had partnered up with Nokia, and that Office Mobile for Winmo 6.5. and Windows Phone 7 were part of the roadmap, but this job specifically mentions "working across other devices and operating systems." So, are we going to be seeing Office Mobile popping up in the Android Market one day? Unfortunately, the ad isn't that specific.

Neowin interprets "leading" platforms as RIM, Apple's iOS, and Android, but there's not really any evidence one way or another. [Don't forget Office for Mac! -Ed]

According to leaked documents making the rounds of the Internet, Microsoft's Windows 8 will come with an app store, allowing users to download Microsoft-endorsed apps and sync settings across all their Windows 8 devices. The service will be hosted entirely in the cloud, with a focus on helping developers reach an audience with a simple sales and licensing process. Is this Microsoft's attempt to energize third-party Windows devs the same way Apple's iTunes app store attracted Mac developers?

From the documents we've seen, It looks like the store will also include social features and app recommendations to help users with discovery and help app developers with sales. Neowin speculates that the whole thing will be powered by Microsoft Azure, the MS cloud OS, to help attract Azure developers.

Windows users: what features would you like to see in a Windows App Store?